BJP declares second list of candidates in Manipur

Imphal, Feb 4 (IANS) The BJP Central Election Committee on Saturday released a second list of 27 candidates for the March 4 and 8 elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already announced the names of 31 candidates some days ago, while two names are yet to be announced.

The BJP and the ruling Congress are the only ones which have come out with the names of the candidates.

Some high profile politicians were disappointed as their names were not included. The most prominent among them is Yumnam Joykumar, a retired Director General of Police.

Nemcha Kipgen got the BJP ticket for the Kaangpokpi constituency. She had resigned from the ruling Congress and joined the BJP. The second BJP woman candidate is S.S. Olish from the Chandel constituency.

So far, there is just one Muslim candidate of the BJP. The last constituency where a Muslim may have got a ticket was Khetrigao but a non-Muslim was given it. In sharp contrast, there are three Muslim candidates, two women and one Nepali in the Congress list.

A prominent candidate included in Saturday’s list is Lallukham Fimate, former Director of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, and presently the Head of Department of forensic science, J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal. He had contested unsuccessfully in the 2012 elections.

Indications are that some disappointed BJP ticket aspirants may join some other parties. One retired IPS officer, P. Dhanakumar who was denied the BJP ticket, has already joined a local party to contest the elections.